Mum was a court recorder - in that she took down the proceedings (in long hand no less) - and always instilled in me the unwritten assumption that a barrister is an officer of the court in that they are there to serve justice and the law first before client.Cancel culture sucks. I have no doubt that some innocent people have had or will have their life destroyed by it. But the reality is we have a justice system heavily weighted towards money and power. Before it, we had the rich and powerful getting away with enormous abuses of power. The rich and powerful when accused used to smear accusers before and in court, to the point where enormous amounts of incidents went unreported and then when brave victims did put up with the smearing, a large payout often protected the abuser. Cancel culture has brought down some hideous abusers and thus dramatically changed the power imbalance regarding the accused and the accuser in cases of abuses of power. Would Epstein still be doing his s*t? How many other Epsteins have been stopped by this now powerful force? How many less cops are willing to pull the trigger on that dodgy looking black kid. How many victims saved versus the few innocent who have become victims of cancel culture? So whilst cancel culture sucks, until we have a justice system that isn't heavily weighted towards money and power, perhaps we ****** need it.
It's a pretty concept but has never truly applied and it led me to believe that any lawyer/barrister etc. that is on a retainer must be suspect as that retainer undermines their service to justice and the court.